| 115th Year, 42nd Issue | Thursday, May 27, 2004 | Sparta, North Carolina |
Alleghany County runs consistent with the state average in the percentage of substantiated reports of child abuse or neglect. One in every three reports of child abuse or neglect in Alleghany County is substantiated.
Local counties Ashe and Surry are similar, Surry being about four-tenths above the state average of 30.7 percent and Ashe County being two-and-a-half percent below state average.
Wilkes County, however has a substantiation rate of 44.6 percent.
"I can't really explain the differences between different counties; maybe they have more child abuse than we do," remarked Sandy Ashley, director of Alleghany County's Department of Social Services.
These statistics are stated the state's Child Protective Services Data Card that was released earlier this year.
The North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute released "N.C.'s Child Protection System, a Tattered Crazy Quilt" as a means of revealing the differences and gaps in county responses to child maltreatment. The data, which was collected in 2000-2001, indicated there were 2,036,497 children in the state.
The number of children in Alleghany County, 2,088, was low, as compared to the other 99 counties. Neighboring counties Ashe, Surry and Wilkes also fell on the rather low side with 4,802, 17,005, and 15,013 respectively, especially when compared with Guilford, Wade and Mecklenburg Counties. These counties have 104,725, 174,663, and 189,378, respectively.
"I don't understand the huge differences and gaps that are discussed in
the report," said Ashley.
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